Rift
by Green Gallant
Summary: While investigating a series of robberies the team is drawn into a battle with a villain able to teleport and find themselves in a strange new world. The only question is who will save them?
1. Gateway

_Author's Note: This is something I whipped up a while back. Um, basically DC Comics revised it's canon and created a new universe. Revamping all the DC Universe characters. This is a project I've been meaning to tackle for some time now. So basically this will be one of those stories where the team is warped to an alternate Earth. Hope you guys like it. _

**_Rift_**

In the past few weeks, a criminal has been stealing high-end pieces of technology from secret laboratories all across the country. What was puzzling about this was how closely timed the robberies were despite being hundreds of miles apart from each other, a feat that should be impossible. With the League investigating the robberies in separate cities, Batman has delegated the team with the task of tracking down the criminal and figure out what he's building. The team stood at full attention as Batman stood before the holocomputer showing them a detailed image of one of the labs.

"The last known break in happened at the Central City S.T.A.R. Labs facility at around 11:04 pm last night." Batman said widened the image via remote.

The holographic view blew up to show a more detailed look at the inside of the laboratory as the team looked on.

"And what was stolen?" Robin asked standing at the front of the group with arms folded. Batman narrowed his eyes as he looked back at the screen.

"Scientists have recently concluded that there are more than just four standard dimensions and have been developing a device that may be able to see through them." Batman replied stunning Miss Martian, Superboy, Artemis and Aqualad while Kid Flash and Robin were not.

"Well sure, scientists have theorized the existence of countless other dimensions for years. But up till now there's no concrete proof of it." Kid interjected.

"Which is why the guy we're after stole it. Do we know what exactly he was after?" Robin asked his mentor.

"According to S.T.A.R. it was an experimental phase shifter a device that can theoretically pierce the dimensional veil for only a few seconds. Poking a whole in space no bigger the very tip of a pencil. Or to put it more simply a period at the end of a sentence. This technology is in its infancy but could change the way we understand space/time." Batman stated.

"And that kind of technology could prove very dangerous in the wrong hands." Aqualad surmised.

"Especially if they fool around with it enough and accidentally cause the universe to collapse." Robin said half jokingly. His mentor regained the team's attention.

"Flash is currently investigating the Central City lab and has questioned his rouges gallery about what they might now. Surprisingly, none of them are cooperating with him." Batman stated.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Superboy asked sardonically.

Megan touched the Boy of Steel's elbow with her fingers as he looked back at her and she bit her lip as if telling him not to. Superboy furrowed his brow at her and turned back to Bruce. Batman turned back to the screen and showed them a nationwide map with markers of all the places hit spanning from New York to Los Angeles.

"Several members of the League are currently investigating each of the labs struck including the ones in New York, Pittsburgh, Columbus, St. Louis, Central City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle. A spate of which happened only hours apart from each other and have occurred every night this week." Batman said turning back to them.

"How many hours between each hit?" Robin asked.

"Two." Batman answered.

"Most jets would be able to fly between those cities on the East Coast in that rate of time." Aqualad noted.

"Yeah but you talk about a serious case of jetlag." Kid Flash joked only to be elbowed by Artemis.

"Where is the next place that will be hit?" Aqualad asked.

"There's another laboratory in Billings, Montana that holds what may be the last piece in the puzzle." Batman answered turning back to the monitor.

"They have a lab in Montana?" Kid said deadpan.

"It's a satellite research station, and the lab's remote location gives it additional security." Batman said.

"Yeah until someone flies a jet over it." quipped Robin.

"You are to head to the Billings lab and stop whoever is stealing these parts. Your mission starts now." Batman ordered.

The crew loaded into the Bioship a moment later and were over were Billings later that evening. As Megan manned the ship Wally, Artemis and Superboy looked at the city below as the Bioship flew over it in camouflage mode reaching the city's outer limits a few minutes later the bioship touched down near the mountain flanking the S.T.A.R. Labs research facility and exited the ship. The team crept along the edge of the property staying in the shadows as they approached the gated research lab that was heavily guarded.

"Miss Martian provide camo." Whispered Aqualad.

Megan's eyes glowed white as she rendered them teammates invisible and made their way past the guards with the team vaulting over the front gate. Their feet scuffled in the dirt as they stopped short of the front door and stood off to the side waiting for Kaldur's signal as one of the lab coats walked past them and opened the front door with his key card. The team rushed in a second later as he entered. The scientist raised his head and looked back, as the invisible heroes stood pressed against the wall before him. The scientist shrugged and went about his business.

Once he left the team rushed down the hall towards the satellite command. In the skies overhead a large black jet rumbled towards the lab. Inside the team continued running down the hallway when the jet fired two rockets at the laboratory blowing the façade wide open knocking everyone to the ground inside the compound as the blast ruptured overhead. Alarms sounded as the lab's sentries opened fire on the encroaching ship as it landed.

"Come on!" Aqualad yelled.

"What about the attacker?" Robin asked.

"Let the guards handle him. We have to secure what he's after!" Aqualad called back as he ran.

Outside guards continued shooting as a man in a luminescent white suit with a crystal disk in the middle of his chest and on the back of his hands with black hair and a pencil thin mustache and goatee emerged from the ship. The guards continued firing as the man raised his hands and engulfed the two men in waves of which vanishing from sight. The mysterious felon smiled and looked up at the guard tower who rained down gunfire on top of him. The white suited thief then swept up the tower guard and dispatched him like the other two. The man soon found his way inside as workers scrambled while the man in question callously blasted them with the same beams of light as they fled and more guards showed up cocking their assault rifles. The man smirked and cut a swath before him taking out eight more guards in one blinding sweep.

Eventually the thief made his way into the lab where his prize awaited him. Having wiped another hapless individual from existence he stepped into the lab to find it abandoned. The supervillain smirked.

"Too easy." He thought to himself.

"Not for long." Aqualad said as he and the other revealed themselves to him. The villain narrowed his eyes at the six superheroes that stood poised to fight him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't expecting any company. No matter I'll be rid of you guys soon enough." He said bending his right arm across his shoulder about to strike.

"So who are you supposed to be? Whiteout?" Superboy asked.

"The name's Warp. But you wont be around long enough for that to matter." He said as his hand started to glow and sent out a pulse of energy as they attacked him.

Kid Flash and Superboy were among the first to reach him as Warp issued a wall of the mysterious white energy and fired it at Kid as he jumped over the blast kicking Warp in the face and knocking him to the floor. Superboy yelled as he threw a punch at Warp as he fired a blast in Superboy's face. Miss Martian shielded him at the last moment with a miniature force field. Warp continued to firing as Megan's shield remained in place and started pushing her back. Superboy's fist flew around it punching Warp in the face.

Warp retaliated firing a second blast burning Superboy's face, the Teen of Steel screamed as he was thrown back. Aqualad went on the offensive throwing himself in the air with his water bearers deployed in a pair of maces. Warp fired a second blast as Aqualad hurled his water construct transforming it into a shield and was thrown back by the blast. Kid Flash, Robin and Artemis then joined in as the boys rushed towards him and Artemis opened fire. Warp fired another blast absorbing her arrows as Robin threw two bladearangs at him and sent the weapons flying back at them a moment later. The trio got down as Artemis' arrows blew up next to her. Warp then expanded a large field of white energy from out of his body holding them at bay. Across the battlefield Miss Martian cradled the injured Superboy's form, the right side of his face still badly burned.

Her face twisted into a scowl at Warp as Miss Martian flew at him.

"Miss M! No!" Robin yelled.

The Martian flew blindly at the field of white as she conjured a large ball of mental energy with her hands. Warp in panic sent the massive pulse of power at her as Miss Martian yelled and shot the mental sphere at his chest. The blast hit its mark but had a reaction as Warp started to scream throwing his suit's powers in reverse, turning Warp into a singularity a virtual black hole.

"No! No! What have you done?" Warp cried as he struggled with his costume in vain.

Miss Martian's cape billowed across her shoulder as she felt the effect. Warp yelled as he was transformed into energy and started pulling Miss Martian in. By this time Robin and the others began to intervene as he fired a rescue line from his gauntlet at her, catching her wrist. The other teammates formed a human chain behind Robin and started to pull. A look of terror was on Miss Martian's face as she looked back at them.

"Guys it's too late for me. Pull out now!" she pleaded.

"Can't do that M'gann!" Robin groaned as the others held onto him with Artemis, Kid and Aqualad pulling with all their might. The only one unaccounted for in their number was the still unconscious Superboy.

"_Superboy!" _Kaldur called out holding the back of the line.

"_Superboy we need you! M'gann is about to be sucked in!" _ He implored.

The Boy of Steel finally came to. His eyes still blurry from the blinding flash earlier skewed to see Aqualad standing before him and saw the rest of his team linked together with Miss Martian on the far end.

"M'gann!" he yelled getting up.

The rescue line seemed to give and Miss Martian was hurled into the void as Superboy leaped after her.

"Conner!" Robin yelled as Miss Martian started to disappear. Aqualad broke rank and used his water bearer to grab Superboy's wrist and attempted to save him. Superboy looked back at his teammate in shock but opted to go after Miss Martian instead vanishing into the void.

"No!" Kid and Artemis yelled.

"Their gone." Robin stated.

"Not yet." Aqualad replied.

"We don't even know what's beyond that thing!" Kid Flash yelled.

"Guys I don't think we have a choice!" Artemis as the vortex grew more unstable and started sucking them in.

The team yelled as they were pulled into the white and blue void, their grasp on one another broken as they were flung into the event horizon of the portal. The nexus opened in another city above the skyscrapers and shot at the ground in a large explosion. On the street below the team and Warp lay in a crater as people on the sidewalk looked on in shock. The team groaned as they came to lying close to each other, while Warp was on the other side of them flat on his back with his costume smoking.

Onlookers were still shocked by what they saw as Robin and the other heroes started to move. Sirens wailed as police cars whipped around the corner at the head of the street responding to the blast. The first officer stepped out of his patrol car behind his door and was amazed at what he saw, as more squad cars appeared a fire truck came around the corner not far behind. The officer closed his door and walked towards the edge seeing six young vigilantes strewn out beneath him with a seventh individual opposite them. The man in question didn't recognize any of the suits save for maybe one as he slid down the crevice towards them and was joined by several more officers.

As he reached the young heroes he studied each of their costumes and as stated didn't recognize the majority of them as Robin groaned and rolled to his back. It was then the officer saw the 'R' badge and recognized at least one of their numbers, and pulled out his cuffs before turning his attention to the older man in the white suit lying across from them. More policemen scaled down into the pit to check on the heroes. But in a move that seemed to defy logic the officers began to arrest the unconscious teens.

Up the street at the head of the police blockade a large futuristic styled transport rolled up behind the police cruisers as men in hazmat suits got out and walked towards the scene. Down in the pit Robin's eyes fluttered open briefly to see an officer standing over him and could hear the handcuffs linking infront of him. Dazed he was unable to react as the officer started to pick him up, the men in the hazmat suits stood overhead and started climbing down into the pit and started to retrieve the other heroes. The hazmat officers climbed out of the pit a moment later carrying each of the six teens while two more studied the unconscious form of Warp. The men walking back to their transport, in which it and the backs of they're uniforms all had one name. N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Back in the Cave, Batman tried contacting the team but could get no response from them.

"Batman to the Team. Do you copy?" he said at the controls and heard only static.

"Batman to Robin do you copy? Aqualad, Superboy, Kid Flash, Artemis, Miss Martian do any of you hear me? Over." he said again but got no response.

A while later the six teens were being transported towards N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s facility each of them being held in glass containment tubes with the majority of the team knocked out. Barely conscious Robin's eyes flitted slightly as a tiny red light flashed on the left side of his utility belt.

"What will we do with them?" one of the men asked.

"The same thing we do with every other metahuman. Study them, dissect them and see how it goes from there." a second one answered.

_Author's Note: All right so what do you think of this so far? _

_Please review, _

_The Green Gallant. _


	2. The Other Side

_Author's Note: This is a story I never thought I'd update. For some reason I always found this story daunting to write and basically abandoned for a while, but recently inspiration hit me and I decided to give it another go. Hope you guys like it. _

_**Rift **  
><em>

_**Chapter 2**_

_**The Other Side**_

That night the Justice League of that world received word of a disturbance in Providence, Rhode Island where the otherworldly Team and Warp crash landed all the members of the League were on hand as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman and others filed into the command center on the Watchtower.

On this Earth the League had the same roster with the same basic members, but there were some noted differences. The majority of the League now wore streamlined armor plated versions of their traditional costumes, those included Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkman. While Wonder Woman and Aquaman wore their traditional clothe and chainmail garb respectively. Perhaps the largest difference in this universe was the fact that Superman didn't lead this time and was in fact five years younger than his collogues. The Superman in question was 22 years old, far younger than anyone else in the League outside of Green Arrow. Because of his upbringing the Superman of this world had no concept of restraint when he started his vigilante career a far cry from the Superman we're familiar with.

On this world Kal-El's adoptive parents died shortly after his 8th Grade graduation and Clark was left to tend the farm by himself during that time his powers emerged for the first time. On their deathbeds Jonathon and Martha revealed to him his alien heritage. Clark was naturally taken aback and was now angry that his parents were gone and had no one else to teach him how to harness his powers. With no one else to care for him and refusing to go into an orphanage until he was an adult, Clark became violent and cold. At age 16 he took on the mantle of Superman, becoming a brutal vigilante and meting out punishments befitting those he went after. It was said that he often preyed on the lowest of the low and had little to no compunction about killing criminals. It was around this time he met the elder vigilante Batman for the first time. The pair had a very terse first meeting with Superman knocking him clean out of the building they were standing in.

Superman was 18 at the time while Batman was 24; the Man of Steel's weakness to Kryptonite was well documented at this point with Batman using a five stone knuckle gauntlet to level the playing field. Superman was then imprisoned in an ultra high security penitentiary. When an evil alien army calling themselves the New Gods of Apocalypse invaded Earth, Superman was seen as the last great hope and was released to fight alongside the Justice League. As the most powerful member of the neophyte League he took on their leader a stone figured warlord known as Darkseid. Superman though inexperienced was somehow able to go toe to toe with the self proclaimed God of Evil but quickly found himself out of his depth. Darkseid with a millennia of training under his belt dismantled the Man of Steel and made him realize that he was no longer the strongest being on Earth.

Though he was the only man alive that could stand up to Darkseid's Omega Effect if not through raw determination. Darkseid still held the advantage over him, experience and skill over Superman's raw strength. In the end Darkseid struck the final blow by using a machine to deplete the upper limits of his strength. In the end it was Green Lantern that managed to defeat Darkseid while the rest of the League managed to defeat his army and force them to retreat. But Darkseid claimed ultimate victory by defanging their greatest champion. This loss coupled with the carnage seen before him opened his eyes to the real world around him and forced him to reevaluate his life. And would try to work his way towards redemption.

A few years passed and he matured taking on a gentler approach and focused more on his life as Clark Kent, eventually turning into the amicable person he was in costume and out and began performing more good deeds before mellowing out completely. Though the shadow of his vigilante legacy loomed large over him he was still seen as a powerful but effective member of the superhero community changing his costume from the grim vigilante t-shirt, cape and jeans to a brightly colored suit of armor giving him a more heroic and personable appearance. And was now a probationary member of the Justice League, his position however didn't earn him many friends due to his notoriety with many of the more senior League members showing contempt over him. The most vocal of which being Batman and Wonder Woman who still saw him as a threat to humanity, such claims pierced the Man of Steel's heart despite his efforts to change and shed his past. The only friend he had in the League was Green Arrow who was a year older than him, and was held in a similar regard for being amateurish at best. The only other League members that supported him were the Flash; the League's new elected leader and reserve member the Elongated Man who was also untested and known to crack jokes.

Batman the League's former leader and incumbent strategist informed the JLA as to what has happened in Providence, Rhode Island.

"Thirty-five minutes ago something crash landed in the middle of Providence according to police reports what was thought to be a meteor was actually seven young metas, plus an adult that remains unidentified. And were collected by agents from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. a rogue government organization that investigates metahuman attacks, specifically those committed by minors and is suspected of kidnapping those they come across for nefarious purposes. …The report also claims that one of the heroes collected is Robin." Batman said in a low voice. The League looked back at him stunned as Flash unfurled his arms and stepped forward.

"And I suppose your going." Flash said. The Dark Knight glanced back at him and replied.

"No. I'm dispatching Hawkman's team to intercept them." he said surprising the League even more.

Superman bowed his head and looked away as Batman continued to address them, the Flash and Elongated Man took notice from the corners of their eyes and knew that he was planning something. Down in the hangar Superman stood next to the Javelin, one of the League's main modes of transportation and contemplated going down to Earth himself but was stopped by Flash, Elongated Man and Green Arrow before he could take another step.

"We know what your thinking Clark." Barry said walking towards him.

"Your going down there to try and prove yourself to the other Leaguers." The Flash added. The Man of Steel grinned and shrugged giving a sideways glance.

"Saw it coming huh?" he joked.

"I don't have to be psychic to know what your thinking. You've come a long way since the early days. Five years ago you would have fought and spilled blood just for the sake of it, but now I can tell you're in it to save lives. Your parents would be proud of the progress you've made." Flash told him. Clark sighed and looked down at the floor and looked up at him.

"So what are you going to do? Your in charge of the League now." he said. Flash looked at him sternly and closed his eyes before responding.

"We're going." He said turning towards the Javelin as Clark celebrated silently and was joined by Elongated Man and Green Arrow.

Upstairs in ops Batman briefed the away team while Flash fired up the thrusters and barreled down the hanger to the surprise of those working there and jumped out of the way as the hangar door threatened to close before the jet could reach it with alarms sounding in the bay. Up in the command center Batman and the others took notice and raced toward the window and saw it leave the Watchtower. Batman got to the council and tried in vain to hail the ship, which was ignored by the crew. On Earth the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. transport continued towards the nearest holding facility in Hartford, Conn. The team was locked in their stasis pods as one while one of the men in white hazmat suits looked back checking on their cargo while two men sat in the front. Within minutes the Javelin flew overhead with a deafening rumble.

Inside the truck the men jumped and craned their necks through the glass to see what it was only for the driver to see Superman standing in the road and hit the brakes. The tires skid as the white futuristic truck came dangerously close to the Man of Steel; Superman narrowed his eyes and threw his hand out crumpling the edge of the hood making the stop more abrupt. The driver's side door was ripped off its hinges as he grabbed the hazmated driver and tore him out of his seat. The man in the passenger's seat pointed a gun at him and shook as the Man of Steel looked back at him amused. The agent opened fire as bullets bounced effortlessly from his pectoral and face as Supes grabbed the pistol and threw the man out through the extinct driver's side door as the man screamed.

Several more agents hid beside the truck loading their weapons when an arrow hit the ground and exploded a cloud of green smoke blinded them as Ollie came in and knocked one out with a sucker punch. A second agent cocked his gun as Green Arrow clocked him in the head with his bow while Flash rushed past and punched a third one in the face. At the back of the vehicle Superman ripped off the large cylinder shaped door revealing the victims as he climbed inside. The Man of Steel surveyed the pods and looked as though they were either unconscious, on ice, or both. Making his way to the third pod on the left hand side he placed his hand against the glass wiping away the fog revealing Robin's insignia. The Kryptonian quirked an eyebrow and gently ripped away the cover freeing Robin from his containment chamber.

A hiss of air and artic fog seeped out as the Boy Wonder moaned, his head slumped forward showing he was partly conscious while Superman freed the others starting with Miss Martian, Aqualad, Artemis, Kid Flash and reached the final pod containing Superboy. Again he looked at the pod curiously as he saw his own symbol reflected back at him. He tore open the pod showing a boy 5 or so years younger wearing a black long sleeved shirt with a black and red variant of his own symbol, and couldn't help but wonder who he was. He didn't necessarily look like him, which made his identity even more puzzling to the Man of Steel. The team groaned behind him as they stirred awake gaining his attention and looked back to see Robin, Miss Martian, Aqualad and Artemis come to followed shortly by Kid Flash.

The Boy Wonder moaned and palmed his cranium as he climbed out followed by Miss Martian. The aerial avenger gained his surroundings as best he could his head still spinning from the ordeal and saw a man in blue body armor stand before him. And couldn't believe who he saw as the Man of Steel turned to face him in his regal glory.

"Superman?" Robin mumbled aloud. The young Kryptonian looked at him awkwardly wondering how he knew but saw that it didn't matter.

"Yes. Are you Robin?" he asked.

"How did you? Oh duh, alternate dimension I probably have a double running around somewhere." He answered groggily.

"Alternate dimension?" he asked curiously.

"It's the only thing that would explain…well you Nevermind its kind of a long story. Where are we?" Robin asked.

"About halfway to Hartford. We're in the back of a N.O.W.H.E.R.E. transit van." Superman answered.

"What's N.O.W.H.E.R.E.?" Kaldur asked standing next to him. Superman sighed.

"I'm not exactly sure, we should get out of here before more of them arrive." The Man of Steel told them. At that moment Superboy awoke and saw a young version of Superman standing over him as he addressed the rest of the team. Conner's eyes widened in shock upon seeing the 'S' as well the owner's face.

"What the? He said and then had another freak out upon learning he was in a tube and thrashed his way out as Robin got between them.

"Superboy! Its okay! We're on another world!" Robin yelled trying to reason with him before he could attack Superman. The boy's cries seemed to calm him momentarily as the unfamiliar Man of Steel gave him a bewildered expression.

The Teen of Steel sighed coming out of his aggressor state and apologized to everyone as Megan looked back at him worriedly over Superman's shoulder.

"Is he with you?" the Man of Steel asked Robin.

"Yeah he is, he's the powerhouse of our team." He explained.

"If you guys are done we really need to get going before more of those grunts show up." Flash said standing behind the van.

Their words couldn't have been truer as NOWHERE observed them via satellite. A group of scientists were gathered around a large monitor as a man assumed to be their leader stood behind them garbed in a brown overcoat with short blonde hair parted down the middle with frayed tresses wearing a black tie and ring shaped glasses with a black narrow cane sitting beneath his gloved palms. With said glasses giving off an eerie glare concealing his eyes as he gazed at the monitor.

"Well…seems as though our boys ran into trouble." The man said his fingers hovering over his cane.

"What shall we do sir?" one of the scientists in the foreground asked looking back at him.

The leader paused for a brief moment and responded.

"Oh, Let em go. No sense sending any more agents for the time being." He responded.

"Sir, we received word that one of the metahumans captured appears to be the cloned project known as Superboy." The scientist added. The leader rapped his fingers clinching his cane.

"Yes I see that, however I doubt it is the very same person seeing as that specimen is here beneath our feet." the man replied tersely.

A level below the man's claims rang true as a figure resembling the original was found hovering in a large cylindrical true suspended by a green viscous liquid and wore a black variation of Conner's solar suit unitard with red glowing lines and a luminescent 'S' shield emblazoned on his chest. The lines ran vertical flowing out of his shield and down the sides of his body in an ornate, angled fashion, with large red sections of his shoulders also giving off the same vibrant light. And appeared to be at rest as large bulges of the strange fluid bubbled up to the surface as scientists went about. All but one seemed interested in the project, a tall red headed woman with glasses stood vigil over him carrying a clipboard with the tip of her pen near the edge of her mouth as she watched.

"And what of the others? One of those kids resembles Robin. Should we be worried about him as well?" another scientist asked to the left of the man.

The enigmatic leader studied the boy's features and came to an abrupt conclusion.

"Doesn't seem like the one we've seen recently. He's a little older and the costume is off. Bring up an image of the current Boy Wonder." He ordered and was obliged as a second image was brought up of a much younger boy in a drastically altered costume.

The Robin they had on file was even shorter than the one apprehended with the group, and looked to be around 10 or 11 years old whereas the Robin in the van had to be in his early teens. While the Robin on file wore a sleek red vest with long black sleeves and leggings, and wore a green domino mask with jagged crescent edges, along with green scalloped gloves similar to Batman's and green Converse styled sneakers, and a bright yellow cape with a hood. While the elder Robin seemed to wear a slightly more militaristic version of the suit with black short sleeves and pants with red highlights along the hips. This second Robin perplexed the scientists and their leader.

"Sir if I may point out Batman has trained more than one Robin. Maybe he's returned?" a scientist on the right suggested.

"Could be, but that doesn't explain the other Superboy, nor any of these other superheroes. I thought you lot kept our files up to date?" the man said annoyed.

"Do you wish to recapture them sir?" the scientist on the left asked.

"No let the League handle this we'll have one of our maintenance worker drones spy and report their findings." The man replied.

"Very good sir." The scientist replied.

_Author's Note: All right well as I said before I had great difficulties even engineering this fic, even thinking about this story gave me an epileptic fic, no not really but it seemed like it sometimes. But anyway I'm back for now and hopefully this chapter sates your appetite. Have no idea when I might update it next, but since the original chapter was so well received I figured it was a shame not to at least try and update it. Let me know what you think. _

_Please review,_

_The Green Gallant_


	3. Superman Unleashed

_Author's Note: All right I'm back with another chapter want to thank everyone for the overwhelming response last time really appreciated it. All right let's get back into it. Enjoy. _

_**Rift **  
><em>

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Superman Unleashed**_

A few minutes later the Team and alternate versions of Superman, Flash, Green Arrow and the Elongated Man were in the air with the Elongated Man piloting the Javelin as they returned to the Watchtower. In the cabin Kid Flash was ecstatic to meet another version of his uncle and started chatting with the Scarlet Speedster who was quietly minding his business.

"So Uncle Barry, I'm guessing your wondering where we all came from." He stated catching him off guard.

"I'm sorry what?" Barry asked giving him a confused look.

"It's me Wally, I'm your sidekick and nephew in my home reality!" he said enthusiastically but the Flash's expression showed otherwise as he looked back at the speedster with an awkward glance.

"I'm sorry but I don't know anyone by that name. Kid Flash is my grandson." He replied as Wally's face fell.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry kid I've never seen you before in my life." Flash said surprising Wally's teammates. The boy was shocked and angrily threw off his mask showing his features to him.

"I'm Wally West! I'm your nephew! On Aunt Iris' side! I replicated the experiment that gave you your powers. I was your sidekick for years on my Earth, how can you say you've never seen me before?" he yelled in anger.

"Wally…" Robin said.

"What?" he growled and looked up to see all eyes were on him and Barry, as the Flash stood visibly shaken by his accusations. While Wally came to the conclusion, his expression mellowed as he looked back at the Boy Wonder.

"Are you saying I have no counterpart on this Earth?" he asked. Robin sighed and looked away before answer.

"I…I don't know man. We don't know how much this world diverges from our own…it is possible." He said in a low voice.

"It is possible that you may have never had a superhero career in this world. Rather than simply not existing." Aqualad offered.

"All right slow down. What do we know about this Earth so far? The Superman of this world looks about 10 years younger than the one in our home reality. What does that say? Superman how old are you?" Robin asked.

"Twenty-two." The Man of Steel replied still weirded out.

"Then our mentors must still be early in their careers on this Earth." Aqualad surmised.

"Right which means most of us probably haven't suited up yet either." Robin responded.

"So then how long as the League been active on this world?" Superboy wondered.

"Five years. We're actually the younger members though." Green Arrow interjected.

"And how old are the others?" Robin replied.

"Better question is who's older?" Superboy added, Green Arrow sighed.

"Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They're all around 28." He replied.

"That's the same age Bruce was when he trained me." Robin said mainly to himself.

"And the majority of us trained with our mentors two years ago." Kaldur reminded them.

"Mine was only 6 months." Artemis mumbled and folded her arms looking down.

"So more or less this age of heroes is still in its infancy. Uh, no offense." Robin corrected infront of Superman and the others.

"True but our mentors have not been active long either." Kaldur added while the others pondered.

"Who's in charge of the League?" Robin asked.

"I am, although I've only been recently elected. Batman led before me and then Wonder Woman and Green Lantern." Flash answered. Wally's expression fell further as he turned away from his uncle. Artemis, Robin and the others noticed this as Artemis touched his shoulder briefly.

"Approaching Justice League airspace." Elongated Man said from the captain's chair grabbing their attention. Wally glanced back at Artemis who offered him a faint smile. But Wally would have no part of it and pushed it off turning away from her.

"_So how bad do you think Batman will want to kill me?" _ Superman whispered to Green Arrow. His friend let out a quick laugh as he answered.

"Heh. Guess we'll find out." he remarked.

"You know he's talked about replacing me with Captain Marvel? I think he's serious." Superman replied showing a hint of concern while Flash touched his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it kid, I'll vouch for you…as usual." Barry said as their alternate universe protégés gathered at the front of the plane as the Watchtower came into view.

In this universe the Watchtower resembled an actual space station rather than what was assumed to be an asteroid in their home reality. On this Earth, the Watchtower was a modern day space station resembling a nail with a large ring wrapped near the head of the station with four large rectangular solar panels adorning the sides of the rings and a small satellite receiver perched at the top. The team looked on in wonder at the alternate Watchtower as the ship docked inside. No sooner were they back in ops that Batman laid into the Man of Steel shifting all the blame towards him.

"Do you enjoy pissing me off? This is the third time this month you've gone against orders, when I specifically said that Hawkman's team would do the extraction." growled Batman.

"Technically you never gave me orders, not even to stay here." Superman replied angering the Dark Knight even further as Flash threw out his arm silencing him.

"Look the point is we got them out and their safe. Mission accomplished." Flash stated. But the Dark Knight would have none of it turning his icy glare over to him.

"And you're encouraging him, as leader of the League your supposed to set an example for the rest of us. Not pity those that are ill fit for the mission. You can't shield him forever Barry, and it's because of actions like this that make me reconsider his position in the League. This is your last warning Clark, go against orders again…and your finished." Batman retorted venomously.

A moment of silence passed as the Caped Crusader and the Man of Tomorrow glowered at each other. For Young Justice however it was quite unnerving watching their superior berating the leader of the superhero community of their world. To say it was uncomfortable was the understatement of the century. While this was happening a male voice was screaming inside Clark and Conner's minds, the pair cringed clapping their ears in agony as the others looked on.

"_Supermaaaaaan!"_ the voice roared inside their heads.

"On screen now!" he yelled wincing with one eye shut.

A giant monitor came to life showing a bare chested, muscle bound Lex Luthor standing in the middle of a street in downtown Metropolis, his chest heaving with a look of intense hatred on his face clenching his fists wearing black slacks and dress shoes. Both teams looked on in surprise as chunks of asphalt could be seen hovering around him, absolutely livid as he challenged the Man of Steel.

"If you value this city, come down here and face me!" he yelled the camera panned to the right showing Lois and Jimmy Olson cowering behind a mail box as a large chunk of concrete was ripped up right infront of them by an invisible force.

The camera then panned back as Luthor stood over it lifting the mountainous slab of concrete overhead and destroyed the camera as the feed went to static.

"Ah shit, Luthor's gone off the deep end." Green Arrow commented.

"How did he end up like this?" Robin said confused.

"And since when is he a Super Sayan?" Kid Flash added. Superman looked back at Batman for approval and the Dark Knight conceded with a slight nod.

"Go. But try to keep damage to a minimum." He advised.

"I'm going with you." Superboy said. The slightly older Man of Steel cast a wary eye on the newcomer.

"We'll all go with you." Robin added.

"No. There are still too many questions about where you came from. And since you're not familiar with the Lex Luthor of our world, sending you six in would be suicide." Batman countered.

"We deal with threats like this all the time on our world." Robin argued.

"Uh, Not exactly like this but pretty close." Kid Flash interjected. Batman narrowed his eyes and turned back to Clark.

"Superman go, its you he's after the rest of you are to stay up here until we've debriefed and ascertained where it is you're from." Batman said ending the argument. The Man of Steel nodded and flew down to Earth.

Breaking through the upper atmosphere the Man of Tomorrow exhaled taking in a much needed breath of fresh air as he powered up to confront Lex Luthor, racing through the city streets in seconds as he flew towards Luthor as the villain stood ready as Superman clotheslined him and sent the industrialist toppling back into a marble statue. The villain's back slammed against the square base and was unharmed as he looked back at his mortal enemy. The Man of Steel hovered a few feet off the ground, his cape billowing in the wind over his left shoulder as he stared back at him.

"It's about time you got here." Luthor stated in a low voice.

"You know there are better ways to get my attention." The Kryptonian replied.

"True, though not as effective." the industrialist said.

"Seeing as you're always big on scheduling, I'll pencil you in for your latest beating." Superman sniped back.

"Oh ho, a business joke, bravo your banter is improving." Lex replied.

"Can the formalities Lex. What's your game now?" he asked in a low serious tone.

"The same game we always play Superman. Where I try to kill you." he answered as the veins in his forearms gave off a greenish glow, powering himself up as he lunged at the Man of Steel punching him as hard as he could and was sent crashing several stories up into a nearby sky scraper.

The Last Son of Krypton lay in a pile of debris and struggled to get up shoving a large section of a wall from his back, as he stood hunched over. A young woman with dark wavy hair and glasses that was in the room was in shock as he stood up. Rubbing the faint trace of blood from his mouth he looked down at where Luthor stood as the villain hurled a semi at the building. The Man of Steel doubled back scooping the woman up in his arms and flew out as the truck came crashing through, and flew out the other window as Luthor leaped after him. The young Kryptonian flew towards a nearby roof when Luthor drove both feet into his back and took him out of the sky dropping the girl.

The woman screamed as they free fell with Luthor punching him in the face as they descended. The woman grabbed the railing of a fire escape and the Man of Steel plowed into the ground as Luthor copied the woman's tactic grabbing one on the building across from her. The hero was laying facedown in an alleyway in shattered pavement as he struggled to get up. Lex landed on his back again causing him pain as he grabbed Superman by the hair pulling him back and hurled him across his shoulder into another building across the street. Inside the second destroyed building Superman skidded across the debris ridden floor on his back clearly injured as he tried to recover but couldn't get up fast enough as Luthor jumped in and met him grabbing the Man of Steel by the throat. Superman fired his heat vision into Luthor's eyes blinding him temporarily and punched him out into the next building and collapsed on his hands and knees.

The comlink in his ear went off as Batman asked if he needed assistance. The Man of Steel ignored him and groaned touching his symbol on his chest as the suit gave him a concentrated burst of solar radiation. Lines of yellow energy flowed between the gaps in his armor plating revitalizing him as rays of golden sunlight erupted bringing him back to full strength as he stood up.

"I'm fine." he replied shrugging off the effects. On the other side Lex Luthor laid spread eagle in the side of a building furiously rubbed his eyes shooting daggers at the Man of Steel.

"Here we go." Clark said taking a step back as Lex shot streams of emerald fireballs at the building he was standing in and escaped and took to the skies as Luthor continued to fire at him before shooting angrily at the base and rocketed towards the Man of Steel.

Superman cast a serious glance as Luthor met up with him using his own heat vision against the sentinel of justice throwing his head back as the beams raced up as Luthor collided erupted with fisticuffs while Superman blocked his attacks at close range, the villain's fists blazing with Kryptonite power. Luthor throwing a one two combination, punching his cheek before Superman retaliated, and Lex got him with an uppercut before lobbing a left at the Man of Steel's temple. But Superman wouldn't bend or break even with the rampant Kryptonite radiation as Luthor's fists burned brighter grabbing the supervillain's wrists with both hands, kneeing him in the stomach and punching him in the face sending Lex into a freefall and crashed into the roof of a low lying building below. In the pile of wreckage Luthor glared viciously at the Man of Steel and erupted having one last go at the Last Son of Krypton with a flurry of power as he rocketed back towards his mortal nemesis as Superman stood in place knowing that this was it. The villain roared extending his right arm and a two-foot long shard of Kryptonite shot out of his palm aiming for his eye.

In a split second the Man of Steel made a fist and attempted to block it but the blade sliced open the back of his left hand and grazed his armor heading towards his eye, only grabbing it at the last moment with his right hand stopping Luthor cold. The emerald lance quaked with Luthor seething in anger as Superman glared back at him. Grabbing Luthor's arm with his injured hand he tore the shard out of Luthor's right hand and punched him as hard as he could in the face and sent him crashing into the street below.

A large cloud of black smoke erupted as he hit leaving a large crater in the middle of a four way crossing. The Man of Steel floated down to street level thinking the battle was over as civilians stood the gash in the street. Before he could reach the ground a flash of green hit Superman in the face knocking him back as Luthor stood up and came out blasting him multiple times with his left hand. Superman staggered backwards as each one hit his chest and face, the industrialist lowered his arms as twin spheres of swirling energy enveloped his hands and an aura consumed his person, his pant legs billowing as he powered up raising his radiation to toxic levels building into a dome of spiraling energy. In the distance a semi blew its air horn catching Superman's attention as he turned to see a large black freight loader barreling towards him, behind the wheel was his friend Jimmy Olsen coming to his rescue.

Superman made a face trying to determine what it was he was doing and watched as he undid his seatbelt and abandoned the vehicle to its fate. Superman narrowed his eyes, as Luthor raised his fists and then saw the semi, as Superman lifted the tractor trailer by its bumper and grill and threw the tractor trailer overhead like a colossal hammer and brought it down on Luthor's head splintering the trailer and destroying his energy field in a medium sized explosion. Luthor emerged from the blast unscathed down on his knee as Superman cried out overhead smashing the nose of the still intact truck directly on top of him triggering a massive explosion.

The fire and smoke subsided moments later showing Superman hovering a few feet off the ground while Luthor lay charred and defeated in a smoking heap. The Man of Steel touched down moments later and rested against his knees exhausted and out of breath as he looked back at Luthor.

"Damn." Superboy said in awe, of which the rest of the Justice League seemed more or less used to it aside from Batman who narrowed his eyes disapproving of the destruction.

"Yeah the man gets it done." Flash noted.

"How did Luthor end up getting powers in this world?" Robin asked looking back at him.

"He injected himself with a serum that replaced his blood with Kryptonite." Flash said.

"What? That's suicide! Doesn't he know that it's poisonous to humans as well?" Kid Flash said in shock.

"He probably does, but Luthor's at that stage where he doesn't care anymore. All he cares about now is killing Superman." Flash stated.

"Kind of figured that. So where are they going to take him?" Robin asked.

"The Slab is the nearest metahuman prison, they have power nullifiers but its only a matter of time before he escapes again and the whole thing starts over." Flash told him looking back at the monitor.

"Why doesn't Superman just finish him off once and for all? Save himself the trouble?" Superboy asked. The League and the team looked back at him.

"What? Don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing." He defended in a serious tone.

"Because the Justice League doesn't kill, that decision is in the law's hands not ours. Unless your more open to the notion on your Earth." Batman chastised walking up to him. Superboy steeled his gaze at the Dark Knight and looked away a moment later.

"No sir." He muttered.

"But what will you do when an opponent is too powerful, and too great a threat. Will you stand by your practice then?" he asked defiant.

"Superboy." Robin said interjecting softly. The Dark Knight glared down at him from his mask and responded.

"Then we refrain until all other options have been exhausted, unless faced with planetary or universal extinction we _don't_ kill." Batman said in a grim, but firm voice. But the Boy of Steel wasn't fazed and issued a final salvo.

"And what about the Joker? How many graveyards will he fill before you cross that line?" he shot back in the same tone. The Dark Knight glowered at him while Superboy did the same and left the command center.

"What was that about?" Aquaman asked quietly astounded by his audacity.

"Don't know." Robin answered and followed him out.

"Superboy." Robin said coming out the double doors where the former stood in the hallway.

"Something on your mind?" the Boy Wonder asked as he came up to him. The Boy of Steel sighed, giving him a sideways glance.

"You ever think that we're doing the right thing?" Superboy asked Robin quirked an eyebrow behind his mask.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"You saw how dangerous Luthor is on this planet. Shouldn't the League be more active in preventing these sort of things?" Conner asked.

"I guess…what's going on here Conner?" he asked in a low voice.

"It's nothing." He muttered.

"Don't give me that, look I cant read your mind like Megan so level with me. What's the real issue?" he asked in a low, serious non-confrontational tone. Conner groaned inwardly and adverted his eyes as he responded.

"Everything, the whole idea of putting Luthor behind bars when he actually has the power to kill Superman in this universe… it's absurd. And if he can escape as easy as they imply then it only adds to the insanity." Superboy replied.

"That's not our call to make." frowned Dick. The Boy of Steel mellowed a bit and looked back at him.

"I know, I just wish there was a way to neutralize that sort of threat. Maybe not kill him but…I don't know." He sighed and slid down to the floor.

"With the way Flash talks he may not be around much longer." Robin told him.

"That's what worries me, if he has nothing to lose then that means that nothing will stop him from going out with a bang." Superboy replied.

"I know." Robin said bowing his head.

Inside the command center the League was alerted to another threat. The monitor switched from the previous battle to that of Captain Cold addressing the League. The team stood at attention as a younger version of the villain stood wearing a hooded sleeveless version of his suit, with his traditional visor.

"Flash, we need to talk…its Zoom. He's taken over the Rogues." The villain said in a gravely voice with puffs of frozen air escaping as he spoke.

_Author's Note: Pretty intense chapter right? I have a lot of fun writing Superman in this universe. Admittedly I've never been that big a fan of him but this is fun. So you may have noticed a couple changes to how his powers operate, as far as I know his powers are basically the same in the New 52 relaunch. However I did take some liberties in applying them. In the current comics he wears what's referred to as ceremonial Kryptonian armor. The armor itself doesn't do anything that I know of other than look cool, and I guess because they thought tights and especially underwear on the outside was outdated even though he pioneered the look. I decided to give some justification to the armor by having it replenish him with concentrated sunlight when severely weakened. _

_Also I did my homework and Lex does not have any superpowers in the new universe I just thought it'd be awesome to see. One of my biggest hangups about Superman is that his arch enemy is a normal dude with a ginormous brain. You can see why this would be a problem and admittedly why I never liked any of the Superman movies growing up. So I figure new universe, new rules. I know that some may not agree with the changes and that if this was a comic book, fans would slaughter me for 'violating' those aspects of canon if they were the real thing so that's pretty much all for now. Let me know what you think. _

_Please review, _

_Green Gallant. _


	4. Reasoning

_Author's Note: All right I apologise for the wait, but I'm back with another chapter. Hope you guys like it. Enjoy. _

_**Rift **  
><em>

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Reasons**_

"_It's Professor Zoom, he's taken over the Rogues." _ Captain Cold reiterated through the Watchtower monitor. The Flash narrowed his eyes at the utterance of his nemesis' name.

"I'll be there in a flash." He said in a low serious voice

"Teleporter to Central City." he ordered racing downstairs to the teleportation pad where a civilian worker fired it up and beamed out leaving the YJ crew to wonder who this person was.

Moments later The Flash touched down in the middle of Central City Park and rushed towards Cold's location. This didn't bode well in the least for two reasons; one was that he was dealing with the most psychotic member of his rouges gallery. The second was that the Rogues never called on him for anything, except for when they themselves wanted to battle and/or kill him. And knew full well that he could be heading into a trap, but that was a risk he had to take and poured it on towards Cold's location which happened to be an abandoned police garage. The speedster threw open the double doors to find Captain Cold standing there in the open as he stepped in.

The building was a small warehouse containing several derelict police cruisers. The Flash calmly walked towards him leaving the sliding door open in case it was an ambush and surveyed his surroundings as he came towards Flash.

"This better be worth it Cold." Flash said getting straight to business. The Captain gave him a weary expression.

"Believe me…it's worth it." Cold said with puffs of frozen air escaping his lips as he spoke. The Flash finally made his way up to him and crossed his arms with a stern expression underneath his mask.

"Start talking, what's this about Zoom taking over the Rogues?" he asked firmly. The villain grimaced and looked away momentarily.

"Leonard." He said authoritatively. Cap sighed and answered.

"A while back we recruited him into the group. We knew he was the only one that could match your speed and well…things sort of degenerated from there. He said he had big plans in store for us, it wasn't until later we learned what those plans were. We never intended for this sort of thing to happen." He admitted.

"What's he planning?" Flash said narrowing his eyes at him.

"He said he's going to make people fear us again, turn us into real supervillains. He's turning them into terrorists." He answered. The speedster's eyes widened as a flash of anger swelled over him.

"And you let him waltz right in and take over?" he growled.

Back at the Watchtower Batman and the others filled Young Justice in on the mystery felon's story.

"Professor Zoom?" Wally asked.

"You heard of him?" Artemis asked.

"Not really, name doesn't ring any bells." He replied eating a candy bar he had stored in his gauntlet.

"So who is he then?" Robin asked.

The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes and pulled up a holographic image of a man resembling the Flash in yellow metallic armor, with red lightning bolts on his wrists and belt, red serrated boots with angle tips wrapped around his calves resembling wings in flight, a black collar shielding his neck, and a yellow helmet, with red lightning bolts covered his ears, with dark narrow lenses, and piercing red eyes. The symbol on his chest was an inverted Flash symbol, with a black circle and red lightning bolt facing the opposite direction as the man in question wore an evil smirk.

"Professor Zoom, real name Eobard Thawne, is the Flash's mortal enemy on this world and one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Professor Zoom is a schizophrenic sociopath claiming to be from the 25th Century and believes he is the Flash's greatest enemy. And is responsible for numerous travesties in the Flash's life." Batman said turning his attention over to Wally.

15 minutes earlier, the Flash had told Batman and Green Lantern about his alleged relation to Kid Flash. Debating this amongst themselves, Hawkman and Green Lantern ushered Wally downstairs to the lab for a DNA sample while the rest of their teammates were occupied. While Barry himself was hesitant he supplied them with a hair sample from his mask and went back upstairs where he learned of Zoom's involvement. The lab test only took a few minutes while Hal and Katar debated among themselves the legitimacy of Wally's claims, and in all honesty didn't know what to expect. Neither did Wally, at first he was certain that he was related to him, but the more he thought about it the less sense it made.

How could someone from a different universe be related to someone? Would a person's genes even behave in this fashion? And how exactly do multiversal versions of one person work? How do they exist? And how does science explain it? In retrospect he imagined that the String Theory he mentioned to Artemis in Fate's tower could explain some of it, since according to that everything in life was somehow connected. But it still doesn't explain how multiple versions of the same person could exist, at least not on the surface he thought. The test was finally completed as Hawkman and Green Lantern looked over the results. Wally raised his head when all he could see were the backs of the two heroes and strained to see the monitor himself while sitting on a cot. An awkward silence passed between the men as Lantern rubbed the back of his neck and the pair turned and faced Wally a second later. Hal cleared his throat while he and Katar broke the news.

"Well?" he asked staring back at them. The men reacted awkwardly before Hal replied.

"Sorry but there is no match." He said.

"Well of course, I could have told you guys that. Barry is married to my Aunt Iris back on my world; we're related through marriage. Guess I should have told you guys that earlier." Kid Flash noted. Hawkman narrowed his eyes and stepped forward pointing his finger at the kid.

"And how do we know your who you claim to be?" the Thanagarian asked.

"How do I know your really Katar Hol underneath that mask?" retorted Kid. Hawkman steeled his gaze at the boy.

"Touché. You obviously know who we are." He replied.

"Because I interact with your counterparts back home. Aqualad said that some of us might not be active heroes yet due to this Earth's timeline. If I'm not then who is?" he asked in a low serious voice.

Back in Central City the Flash probed Captain Cold for answers.

"What is he planning?" he asked in a low voice.

"Zoom's going to challenge you to a death match at the Central City Arch holding its visitors hostage. While your distracted fighting him…Heat Wave is…" he trailed off. The Flash snarled grabbing his sleeveless shirt and looked him in the eye drawing back his fist.

"Talk!" he yelled.

"Heat Wave is going to blow up the hospital while your fighting Zoom. He wants to kill as many people as possible…just to see you fail." He relented breathlessly. Flash looked back at him in horror and angrily punched him out.

The Watchtower received the alert moments later from Barry as he raced towards the arch.

"Guys it's me, Professor Zoom is going to blow up the hospital while holding people hostage at the Arch. Heat Wave is the triggerman. My guess is the other Rogues are at the arch with Zoom." Flash said.

"We're on it. Anything else?" Batman said over Barry's comlink.

"Yeah send GL and Superman to the Arch I'll need some added muscle against Professor Zoom, maybe Hawkman as well. " Flash told him.

At the Watchtower, League members rushed for the teleportation pad remanding Young Justice to once again stay in the Watchtower. Seeing that the team would likely follow them and endanger the mission, Aquaman ordered for the teleporter to be shut down once they left angering them even further.

"Your going to have us stay out of _every_ mission?" scolded Robin.

"Until we figure out what to do with you, yes." The King of the Seas replied.

"Stay up here, that's an order." He added and raced for the teleporter joining the last of the compatriots and vanished.

"He's kidding right?" Kid Flash said coming back into ops as the team turned to him.

"So what'd you find out?" Robin asked.

"No match, even though I'm only related to Barry through marriage." He replied.

"What _else_ did you find out?" Robin reiterated. Wally shrugged and stopped infront of them.

"Hardly anything, Barry's not even married yet on this world. I asked about Iris and they were just…quiet. And wouldn't answer any further questions about either of them. I did manage to get a list of which of our counterparts might be active though. At least they were honest regarding that." Kid Flash told them.

"Good work." Aqualad nodded in approval.

"Yeah, let's hear it." Robin told him as Kid nodded back.

"Rob your defiantly active in this world. But you're an adult and your counterpart's codename escapes me for the moment. Sorry bro, I'll remember it in a second." Kid told him.

"I'm an adult? Robin said inquisitively.

"Score." He added as Wally turned his attention over to Kaldur.

"Aqualad you're active as well, and have been for some time. You're also paired with an…Aquagirl, as co-sidekicks I guess." Wally said with Kaldur giving him a puzzled expression.

"Did they say who she is?" he asked hopeful that it might be Tula. Kid awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and replied.

"It's some Hispanic girl Kaldur…sorry." He said.

"Oh. That is…all right." Aqualad said shielding his emotions once more. By now the team knew about his attraction to Tula in their native dimension and silently cursed at himself returning to the task at hand.

"Unfortunately the League doesn't seem to have any info on Superboy, Miss Martian or Artemis. Green Lantern and Hawkman didn't even recognize them and no word on Manhunter either. Think I may have opened a can of worms mentioning Superboy's name." Kid Flash told them.

"Well that's more than we knew ten minutes ago. Good work." Robin said as he went to the League computer plugging an extension line from his glove top computer into theirs as the holographic disk came up and started typing.

"Let's see what else the League knows." He stated as his hacker icons emerged on his holo-computer.

"Like what's the organization that captured us when we arrived?" Superboy added behind Dick's shoulder. The Boy Wonder glanced back at him briefly and continued hacking.

Combing through the League's extensive database didn't yield him any results.

"Too vague." He sighed.

"Maybe it's an acronym?" suggested Conner, and Robin tried again.

This time the search yielded a result and brought up a short nondescript file only a few paragraphs long under the name _N.O.W.H.E.R.E. _

"National Organization for the Whereabouts of Human Engineered Research and Evaluation. What is assumed to be a highly classified government organization that specializes in the study and detainment of those with superpowers." Robin said reading the summary.

"There's not much else regarding it a few tidbits of information here and there. Seems as though the League has had a few run-ins with them in the past. And were established around the same time superheroes started appearing on this Earth, probably as a defensive measure by the government." Robin summarized while flipping through several holographic images regarding its history.

"So the League's pretty much in the dark about what they do…just like Cadmus." Superboy muttered as Robin and the others looked back at him. The Boy Wonder's frown deepened.

"Looks that way." he admitted.

Unbeknownst to Robin and the others by accessing NOWHERE's file in the League computer alerted the organization to their activity. Having placed a bug within the system by one of their undercover operatives, the enigmatic agency was able to spy on the League whenever someone accessed their file while their mysterious leader and his men looked on from their command center.

"Looks like somebody got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Access the intruder's device." The blonde bespectacled man ordered. The two men at the council obliged him and brought up the hacker's program and diagnostics.

"Let's see what we can learn on this lot." He said. The tech ciphers accessed the foreign program but Robin's gauntlet quickly alerted him to the intrusion with a tiny rapid fire chirp. The Boy Wonder's eyes widened as the screen flashed red.

"What's going on?" Aqualad asked.

"I'm being hacked!" he said and tore out the cord connecting him to the League's computer but did little to help it.

"Is it their systems?" Kaldur asked.

"It's not the League's, someone else is hijacking my gauntlet!" he said looking back at them as the screen continued to flash. To which Conner instinctively crushed the device on Robin's wrist. The Teen Wonder winced as a small wisp of smoke flew up.

"Thanks a lot." He replied sardonically.

"Your welcome." Superboy answered sarcastically.

"Did we get anything?" the leader asked his hackers.

"No sir, whoever accessed that file has a security system tighter than Fort Knox." One of the scientists replied. The mysterious leader twisted his lips into a scowl. Back at the Watchtower Robin berated Superboy's rash action.

"You didn't have to do that you know!" he said annoyed.

"You were compromised and I took care of It." he said.

"Yeah for a brief second, my gauntlet has a security system five layers deep." He replied.

"And yet all they needed was a few seconds. Did they steal anything?" Aqualad calmly advised. His teammate settled and replied evenly.

"No. Although getting into my gauntlet in the first place is no easy task. And I have a good idea who's behind it." Robin said.

"N.O.W.H.E.R.E." Aqualad said.

"Right, whoever these guys are is using their A-Game. And if their anything like Cadmus or the Light then we have to be ready for them." Robin stated.

Back at NOWHERE's underground base their leader sized up the competition they now faced with the growing number of superheroes showing images of the various League members including the likes of Batman, Superman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Firestorm, Robin, Aqualad, the Hispanic Aquagirl, The Flash, Red Tornado, Elongated Man and numerous others yet to be identified. Along with the younger generation of superheroes yet to be captured that included a young man dressed in black and red with a gold chest belt, domino mask and black and red wing styled cape, a young woman his age wearing a red sparkling tube top and pants with a hood wielding a glowing red lasso, a boy in a red and gold unitard that resembled Kid Flash, along with a younger man in a green and black suit projecting energy constructs from his ring, a girl with long dark hair and spider legs sprouting from her back, a boy in a red and purple outfit with a bandana style mask using lavender force fields and numbers others.

The director of NOWHERE looked on at the images with bitter contempt adding to the new addition Young Justice made to the ever-growing superhero populace.

"We have to do something about this. There's far too many of them for us to control." He growled to himself.

_Author's Note: All right I admit this chapter wasn't much and I apologize for that. I realize that this probably seems like mostly filler and I guess it kind of is. I'm sorry guys, they cant all be gems. Hope you guys liked this chapter nonetheless and I look forward to your imput. _

_Please review, _

_The Green Gallant. _


	5. NOWHERE To Hide: The Culling

_Author's Note: Hey I'm back with another chapter. I apologise if the last chapter didnt have much to offer plotwise but I hope you guys like this next installment. Enjoy. _

_**Rift **  
><em>

_**Chapter 5**_

_**N.O.W.H.E.R.E. To Hide: The Culling**_

The director of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. now identified as Dr. Zaniel Templar glared at the screen in his command center, for too long the emerging metahuman population had run rampant across the planet. It didn't matter to him what their alignment was whether hero or villain, to him they were all threats especially those with powers who felt that because they were so privileged they were free to do as pleased. But Templar wouldn't stand for it anymore as he addressed the people in his command center.

"Gentlemen our surveillance has indicated that there are at least 200 active superheroes and villains on this planet. For too long we have operated in the shadows, gradually acquiring metahumans that no one else would miss or even notice. It is time that we bring ourselves into the bright and burning day its time that the metahuman community knows who they're dealing with. Dr. Robertson dispatch the Ravagers." He told an African American scientist who nodded and went about.

"Ms. Grainger…" he said to a young redheaded assistant who turned to him.

"Activate the Superboy clone." He ordered grimly. The young woman nodded and pressed a couple buttons from her station.

Downstairs in the lab the tube containing NOWHERE's greatest achievement came on line. Another young scientist with bright red hair looked up from her tablet as the computer beeped and the fluids suspending him slowly started to drain. The Boy of Steel's eyes opened for the first time giving off an evil, malevolent glow as he arose to the waking world. The woman looked back at the tube curiously and stepped back in fear when his eyes did open and the shield on his chest started to glow. The woman known as Dr. Caitlin Fairchild ran over to the council to see if this was right but didn't dare interfere with the process or risk damaging their prized clone, her life's work. The fluid then began to drain rapidly exposing his head and chest and the scarlet patterns on his suit started to glow and moved his arms for the first time in months. The fluid was now by his waist and continued to drain. Beams of light refracted out of his chest from the symbol he wore so proudly giving Caitlin a fierce glance as the fluid seeped out past his feet. The glass dome shielding him raised up and the Boy of Steel took his first steps out into the waiting world.

"Superboy…" Caitlin said in shock as he continued towards her. The doctor steadied her tone and expression and addressed him again.

"Superboy do you recognize me?" she asked. The clone said nothing pushing her aside with his shoulder as he continued onward.

At the same time Dr. Robertson gave the go ahead for NOWHERE's personal squadron of metahuman enforcers. In another far flung section of the underground base a group of about four or five agents suited up. The first of which was a young girl no older than 17 with long platinum hair as she zipped up the front of a silver body suit with blue along the torso and inner legs and sheathed a pair of katanas on the back of her costume before heading out. Next to her another female agent with blonde shoulder length hair finished suiting up decked out in a black bodysuit with green luminescent lines covering her costume and joined her teammate. Along with a final female operative wearing a similar costume to the second but with blue pulsating streams covering her body, and sported a short blonde boyish hairstyle with the left side of her hair dyed artic blue. Joining them on the men's side was a red skinned animal shapeshifter wearing a black bodysuit with glowing yellow lines, along with a taller muscle bound male with short black hair and a slightly darker Caucasian skintone, with dark gold lines and a large disk in the center of his costume, and were joined by their final teammate a reptilian man beast that towered over all his teammates with an elongated neck, brownish-orange scales and resembled a humanoid brontosaurus of sorts the back of his head and neck fused together giving him a slouched appearance.

These were NOWHERE's top metahuman enforcers, designed to capture and contain those the organization deems a threat. The team then reported topside to Dr. Templar in his command center and was given a list of locations were they could immediately track down and capture metahumans. The team accepted their orders silently and was on their way. The team's first stop was Mexico City where they were to bring in an up and coming cage fighter by the name of Miguel Barragan, a flamboyant Mexican kickboxer from a poor farming village. Miguel had risen through the ranks for his unorthodox and wildly unpredictable manner of fighting earning him the nickname _'The Monkey'_. Barragan had become a fan favorite. With the season wearing down Miguel had earned a place in the playoffs coming into the arena with much fanfare with his hands high above his head as the crowd cheered while his opponent glared at him from within the ring having a much larger build than Miguel as he climbed into the ring.

Across the continent in Gotham City, the preteen vigilante known as Robin faced off against NOWHERE's Superboy clone. Arguably shorter and younger than the Robin we know. The Robin of this world was around 10 and was in fact an altogether different person beneath the mask. This Robin was not Dick Grayson, nor was it Tim Drake. In this world those two boys have already grown into men, this was a third inheritor to the title. This was nothing pleasant and few things admirable about this Boy Wonder the egotistical, haughty and entitled son of the Dark Knight himself, Damian Wayne. No one outside of the Bat Family was sure how he came to be. It seemed as though it was only yesterday that the previous Robin held the title and Damian made damn sure they knew who he was. Decked out in a red long sleeved uniform with black gloves, cape and pants with red striping on the outer thighs of his suit along with two black armbands, along with a black jagged domino mask and short dark hair. As the son of Batman he considered himself to be perfect in every way just as his father and went out of his way to prove it, having dispatched a squadron of masked NOWHERE agents with just his staff and martial arts skills. The surly Boy Wonder was now up against the organization's most powerful agent and the one tasked with capturing him…Superboy.

Having fought and easily defeated at least twelve other men before him, Robin eagerly accepted the fight figuring he would go down just as easy. Gesturing him forward with his fingers as the Boy of Steel glowered at him silently with burning red eyes. The Boy Wonder smirked and leaped towards him with his electrified staff. In the next moment he found himself punched backwards by the Boy of Steel the rod had no effect on him as it made contact with his chest. The boy skidded backwards on his feet clutching his chest but remained fervent as he faced the agent of doom. Robin darted around sideways throwing a handful of smoke pellets at him and repeated his attack with his electrified bo staff overhead. The teen glanced up at him grabbing the staff in midair and punched him in the face and sent him flying backward. The boy landed on his back and toppled over to his feet and skidded back a second time. Superboy took the still sparking staff and snapped it in half all the while glaring at the Boy Wonder.

Robin grit his teeth and hurled a flurry of scarlet shurikens at him that exploded on contact as Superboy simply stood there, while Robin went on the offensive rushing across the roof from left to right taking an unnecessary tumble and flung another one at him to cause injury. The bladed semi-disk sliced his side but didn't seem to affect him or even show damage to his costume as Robin raced towards him throwing one last shuriken that exploded and coated him in a blue cement like epoxy foam as Robin drew out his sword and swung crossways at the Boy of Steel's neck. But the blade shattered upon contact with his neck as Damian looked on in shock and Superboy looked back at him annoyed as his eyes started to glow and fired his heat vision at him point blank.

Robin fell backwards as Superboy broke free driving his fist into the Boy Wonder's gut hanging him in midair as globules of spit flew from his mouth before receiving a crushing right cross to his cheek that sent him tumbling across the ground in a broken heap. Superboy's eyes continued to glow as he turned and walked towards the downed Robin who struggled to get up with blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth as he looked back at him with a pained expression. The Boy of Steel cracked his knuckles as he continued towards him. The crippled superhero reached into his belt and hurled one last shuriken at him in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Then in a last ditch effort pulled a shard of Kryptonite out of his belt jamming it towards the oncoming Boy of Steel.

Superboy reacted briefly enraged he backhanded Robin across the face and sent him spiraling through the air to the next rooftop. The preteen landed hard on his back wrought with pain as the Boy of Steel jumped and stood over him triumphant, taking the young one in.

Back in Mexico City, Miguel had come close to winning his match till the Ravagers made their presence known setting an explosion off above the crowd throwing them into a panic. Miguel looked up in horror as the agents appeared to him, as evidenced Miguel wasn't just an aspiring kickboxer he was also a part time vigilante and started to back away slowly as they came up to the ring.

"Who…are you guys?" he asked still clad in his purple trunks.

"Don't worry none of that will matter in a bit." the man in the black and gold suit with the disk on his chest said.

"Look I don't want any trouble." Miguel told them.

"We hear you've been causing all sorts of trouble out in these parts." The girl with platinum hair told him as Miguel continued to back up.

"I don't know what your talking about." He told them.

"Oh give it a rest mate we know you've been stalking Mexico City in purple jammies helping people. And quite frankly we're a little annoyed at that." the man monster said. Miguel narrowed his eyes at him.

"If that's the way you want to play it." Miguel answered seriously.

"It's the way we want It." the silver haired girl smirked drawing her sword towards him.

Miguel's eyes flashed purple and fired off a violet streak of energy at the ground. The group shielded their eyes, as he appeared to them in the next moment in his superhero regalia clad in a purple bodysuit with red highlights and a bandana style mask as his hands flashed in streaks forming a pair of gigantic energy constructed hands and assumed a fighting stance.

"Then let's get it on ese." He smirked, as the others stood ready to take him.

"By the way chica my professional name is _Bunker_." Miguel said proudly.

"Rose Wilson, we'll be taking you in now." the silver haired girl replied still pointing her blade at him.

"And where exactly are you guys taking me?" he asked still in a defensive stance.

"NOWHERE." The man monster replied.

"Ah I see, keeping it hush, hush. That's all right maybe I'll just beat it out of you then." Bunker replied surely.

"NOWHERE is the organization we work for genius. Don't worry all your questions will be answered in due time." Rose said holding her katana sideways running her fingertips along the edge.

"And I really look forward to that." he sniped back with a smile.

"Enough talk, Ravagers take him." she ordered.

Back in Central City the League was neck deep in combat with Professor Zoom and his Rouges at the Arch. With the Rogues being unwilling participants in Zoom's plan they were easily dispatched within the arch while Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkman were forced to contend with the madman. In truth Zoom could stand up to the entire League on his own having already defeated Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Green Arrow and recently dispatched Aquaman. Zoom had also taken down Batman with a few well-placed hits as he did with all the other combatants. To which not even Batman could counter the speedster's attacks, and had now taken out Hawkman with a flying tackle punching him in the face and knocking him out throwing the Thanagarian mace at Flash and took out Aquaman a second time hitting his midsection and knocking him out. Leaving only the League's heaviest hitters to contend with.

By now all he cared about was showing up the League, humiliating them and to blow up the arch with the hostages and Rogues still inside as a final blow to them. Superman, Flash and Green Lantern were all that remained and with his speed, strength and cunning intellect Zoom was all but invincible. With an insane grin the wicked speedster pressed the icon on his chest and flashed setting off twin bombs on either side of the arch and started to come down forcing Superman to save it while he escaped. But Green Lantern caught him in a claw shaped construct in the next moment, breaking apart the armor that gave him his powers. Flash responded angrily breaking Zoom's jaw with his left fist and then shattering his femur fracturing it in 47 places going from knee to hip crippling the so-called speedster. Zoom roared out in pain through his broken jaw and fell backward clad in only a black body suit and his helmet as Flash drove his heel through snapping the bone in half to insure the threat was over.

Zoom breathed heavily in agony with blood rushing from his mouth as he looked back at the speedster who glowered down at him.

"That was for Iris." Flash mentioned darkly. Zoom choked on his blood a bit and responded.

"Why don't you finish it? I didn't let Iris suffer. You broke my neck. I was paralyzed for seven months because of you. You wont have another chance like this Flash, this I promise you." he snarled. The Flash stared down at his opponent and replied.

"Because I'm not a murdering psychopath like you. She's already been avenged." He said twisting his foot in Eobard's crushed thigh as the villain winced in pain and walked away and paramedics soon attended to him.

"Guys I could use a hand up here!" Superman said still holding up the bottom of the arch.

Green Lantern obliged him and braced the legs of the arch giving him time to rest while the Man of Steel used his heat vision to repair the damage while rescue workers brought out the hostages draping them in blankets. And the rest of the League was attended to by more EMTs.

Over in Gotham City, an elder member of the Bat clan just realized that Damian's signal had gone offline. Elder brother Tim Drake sat up and began triangulating his last known location on the Batcomputer and tried hailing the younger Robin's frequency but had no response. When further attempts failed Tim paused and pondered who to contact first, the Bat or his older brother? Knowing that Batman was still fighting Zoom he went for the next person he felt should hear this.

"Nightwing its Tim, I lost track of Damian." He said in his brother's ear piece as Nightwing landed on the ledge of a building.

"Have you tried hailing him?" he asked standing up revealing a black bodysuit with padding and a red bird symbol on his chest.

"Yeah he's not responding, usually he'd snipe some kind of comment before now." Tim said in costume in the Batcave.

"Hmm. Let me see if I can find him, triangulate his last known location." Dick ordered from the rooftop.

"Already done." Tim said from his post.

"Good, I should be over there in 10 minutes." Dick said when Tim posed the inevitable question.

"Should we tell Bruce?" he asked.

There was a brief pause on Nightwing's end that lasted several moments before responding.

"Let's just see what happened first then worry about that." he advised.

"I can be out there in a bit if you want." Tim said from the computer.

Back in Mexico City, Bunker continued his battle against the Ravagers erecting a violet force field against the dinosaurian man monster calling himself Ridge who pounded away at his shield with brute force. At that same time the only human male on the team powered up firing a beam of golden energy out of the disk on his chest blindsiding Bunker and sent him tumbling across the canvas. Thunder stood proud while his sister Lightning conjured up her namesake power as streak of blue energy crackled between her fingers and throughout her entire frame before electrocuting Miguel. Bunker couldn't react fast enough and was stunned as the current went through him still pinned down to the canvas. The blue and blonde haired girl kept shocking him out of malice while the others looked on until another of her teammates had enough and affected the ground beneath her and rattled the canvas causing her and the others to lose balance.

Lightning sent a vicious look back at her teammate, a young blonde teenage girl wearing a black suit with green glowing lines had a hand stretched out towards Lightning.

"What do you think your doing Terra?" Lightning hissed.

"We're supposed to capture him Lightning, not kill him." the blonde admonished.

"Ah I was just having some fun." Lightning said proving to be the more unbalanced of the two.

"That's not our call." She said as a boy with scarlet skin and hair stood next to her.

"Don't tell me your little boyfriend there is on your side again." hissed Lightning.

"He's not my boyfriend." Terra replied remaining on point.

"Anyway the fight's over we best take him back to headquarters." The boy standing behind Terra said as Rose sheathed her blades.

"Yeah Beast Boy's right, all right guys pack it in." Rose told her teammates while Ridge went to retrieve Bunker. But the teen still had a little fight left in him and threw up his head sending out in intense force field throwing them back.

Bunker got to one foot but was seriously injured from the ordeal hanging onto to the top turnbuckle of the ring to steady himself as Ridge rammed into the shield and started pounding on it once more while the others looked on.

"Beast Boy, Terra do something." Rose ordered the pair. The two looked at each other in reluctance as Terra shot down a seismic jolt decimating the floor beneath them upsetting Bunker's balance along with Ridge's while Beast Boy held behind a second longer.

"Beast Boy!" yelled Rose and her teammate shape shifted into a scarlet tiger and lunged at Miguel. The shield shattered under Ridge's force as Bunker grabbed Beast Boy by the chest and threw him over head blocking Ridge's fist with a smaller force bubble.

The mutant raised his other fist and brought it down on the teen as Bunker went back to his king sized energy hands blocking them.

'Thunder, Lightning!" Rose ordered, the siblings powered up and opened fire on him taking Miguel out of the fight permanently. The teen cried out and fell face first to the canvas ending the fight as the Ravagers stood over him.

Across the country and even the world agents battled various teenage superheroes in multiple cities, one of which was on the outskirts of Wonder Woman's hometown Gateway City, California. Agents chased a teen super thief up a mountain highway clad in a red sparkling tube top and pants with a red hooded scarf covering her blonde tresses, with silver bracelets, clutching a red glowing lasso as agents fired at her. The girl in question was known to the public as the Wonder Girl due to the impossible feats she seems to pull off. A moniker that Cassie Sandsmark hated, and brought even more attention to her than she already wanted as one agent leveled a crossbow at her and fired at her from behind. Cassie heard it whistle through the air and turned breaking the shaft with her indestructible bracelet and kept running dodging bullets as best she could. And while Cassie had super strength and some level of invulnerability she still bled like anyone else.

Thinking fast Cassie unsynched the scarlet lasso around her wrist and threw it to a large bolder sitting high overhead bringing it down across the road cutting her off from the pursuing agents creating a small avalanche in her wake that didn't harm any of the agents surprisingly. Cassie smirked and continued up the mountain road while the agents scrambled to get past it.

At a Los Angeles warehouse complex agents did battle with a monstrosity that had been attacking people in the streets late at night. Agents made a sweep of the building with flashlights peering into every dark corner of the warehouse in search of it. The being in question was what witnesses described as an enormous bug like creature that appeared vaguely human to some. The majority of agents were clad in dark blue and gray jumpsuit with assault rifles while several others wore dark suits and ties with sunglasses and pistols. For the past 13 minutes agents have made a sweep of the building until one stray flashlight beam caught sight of something and backtracked revealing the monster to the unfortunate agent. A mutated spider monster with a pale brown exoskeletal armor encasing most of its body save for the upper left arm, wearing a black tank top and pants with a frayed shock of straight black hair that shot straight back and had what appeared to be a large exoskeletal forehead guard, razor sharp teeth and beady pale yellow pupils and black spheres for eyes. The monster roared showing its teeth, its jaw split down the middle opening even widen to gruesome detail scaring the ever loving piss out of the agents and shot a mass of webbing from its wrist at the agent as he screamed alerting the others and raced to his location.

The monster tangled the agent in her webbing drawing him towards her as she stood up making her form visible with four large spider like legs stretching out of her back as the agents opened fire on her. The monster recoiled in horror as the laser bullets rifled at her forcing her to release her prey and leaped from the iron frame she was standing on across the way over the agents heads and took off. One agent stayed behind the help his fallen brethren while the others went after the monster. The walls came alive to the flash of energy shots while the lone agent untangled his coworker from the viscous webbing he was enveloped in. A few aisles over agents continued firing while the mutant known, as Skitter was perched on a metal truss keeping her distance from them while raining down webbing on the agents. The laser bullets had little effect on her exoskeleton and continued ensnaring them gluing some the agents feet to the ground while flinging another hapless agent in the air and sending him straight into his compatriots dispatching the lot of them.

Only one other agent was able to stand up to her, the costumed metahuman known as Warblade. Like Rose Wilson and the others in Mexico City, Warblade was a member of The Ravagers the elite strike force sent by NOWHERE to contain the more stubborn members of the metahuman community. A man dressed in a blue bodysuit with a titanium chest plate shielding his pectorals and shoulders, with twin steel cables wrapped around his upper body and secured by a steel disk with a red opal, leather utility belt, metallic blade like fingers and a silver helmet with long green hair spouting from the back. The agent narrowed his eyes at Skitter as the mutant monster gave him a deathly glare and roared softly as Warblade's claws grew into enormous talons as Skitter shot a glob of webbing at him. The agent leaped into the air slashing at the stream and was in her face in the next instant. Skitter jumped back as Warblade went on the attack slashing at her while Skitter threw up her arms to protect herself. Each stroke skimming off tiny fragments of her exo armor forcing her to retreat with each step he took. Realizing that Skitter's fighting style was only effective from a distance he continued slashing at her backing her into a wall until she had no place else to go. However in the heat of battle he seemed to forget about her spider physiology with her back to the wall, Skitter blinded him with her webbing before slashing his chest with her claws and scaled the wall behind her.

Seeing that it was a losing battle Skitter raced across a rafter to escape the agents still caught up in her webbing saw her and opened fire overhead. One laser bullet grazed her unarmored shoulder injuring her, she paused leaving herself open to attack as a slew of laser bullets struck her knocking her from the rafter and landed on a wooden crate disabling her. Warblade soon emerged coming up the injured Skitter and injected a hypodermic needle into her exposed left arm. The serum then regressed her mutation turning her human revealing her as an African American teenager. Warblade did away with the syringe and picked her up in his arms while the other agents struggled to free themselves.

"Dr. Templar this is Warblade, Skitter has been neutralized. Heading back now." Warblade said in his earpiece carrying the unconscious girl out.

_Author's Note: All right so what'd you think of that? I'd appreciate your feedback if you have any suggestions regarding the plot or anything else I'd love to hear it. _

_Please review, _

_The Green Gallant. _


	6. Sins And Legacies

_Author's Note: All right I'm back with another chapter. I hope you guys like it. Going to journey a little further down the rabbit hole as more about certain characters is revealed. Enjoy. _

_**Rift**  
><em>

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Sins And Legacies**_

That night the League returned to the Watchtower nursing their injuries after their battle with Professor Zoom and the Rogues. A majority of the Leaguers were worse for the wear after being brutalized by the villainous speedster, fortunately for them Flash and Green Lantern put him out of commission for a while. With a shattered femur and lacking a superhuman healing factor it'll be sometime before he menaces the League again. The same could be said of the Rogues who were all too happy to see the League having been duped into becoming terrorists as Zoom's scheme to enhance the second string villain team's image were sent back to Iron Heights Prison in Central City. The only willing participant Heat Wave was taken down by force as part of Professor Zoom's gambit to torch a local hospital while they were busy at the Arch.

As a living inferno Heat Wave is driven by a maddened desire to watch everything around him burn. And was defeated by a tag team of Batman's epoxy foam pellets and Aquaman's water bending ability. But Heat Wave was a stubborn flame refusing to be quenched grew large to the size of the hospital itself, forcing Aquaman to drain the Missouri River in order to squelch the towering pyre with a 40ft wave slamming him against the hospital itself reverting him to his burn husk of a human form. With Heat Wave defeated they joined the rest of the League to battle Professor Zoom. Now that the danger had passed the League returned to the Watchtower to recuperate where the Team and more specifically Kid Flash awaited them. The League didn't feel like dealing with the team and shuffled past them to their quarters while Kid Flash approached his uncle and mentor.

"Uncle Barry." Wally said standing before the group. Barry sighed as he entered the room.

"I told you I'm not your uncle." Flash told him.

"We saw the battle, what did Professor Zoom mean? What happened to Iris in this world?" Kid Flash asked in a low voice. The Flash sighed looking back at him and pulled off his mask.

"Why don't you come with me?" he suggested before looking back at the others. The team looked back at him expectantly and wasn't sure if they should join them.

"Um, do you mind if…" Barry started to say in a polite tone.

"We got ya." Robin said holding out his hand in recognition. The Flash nodded and led Wally out of the command center towards his quarters.

"I'm afraid I haven't been all that honest with you…Kid Flash." Barry said walking down the hallway with him.

"You know who I am." Wally stated in a low voice looking back at him.

"Affirmative." Barry told him.

"So does that mean I have a counterpart on this Earth?" he asked. Barry sighed as they continued walking with his hand on Wally's shoulder.

"It's kind of a long story." He said leading him through another door and came into the Flash's quarters.

The room had white walls and looked like a small apartment with what appeared to be the bare necessities. A red carpet against a white tile floor with several posters along with various awards, commendations, plagues, a key to the city, along with a large wooden desk, a cot, flat screen TV, and a fireplace built into the wall on one end, and a large bookshelf on the other. Along with several souvenirs including one of Captain Cold's freeze guns, Heat Wave's old pistol, a boomerang, Pied Piper's flute and the Weather Wizard's cape draped over the back of his chair behind the desk. Coming into the room, Wally took in the scene set before him in a few seconds before noticing the large window that sat behind Flash's desk and the view of the Earth. While Barry stood over a mini fridge in the left corner infront of his desk.

"You want something to drink? I got grape soda if you want." Barry offered him.

"Mmm, No thank you." Wally said sitting down on the cot.

Barry retrieved two sodas from the fridge anyway and made his way back to his desk. And took in the sight of a tall cylindrical can reading _'Lightspeed Energy'_ on the side with the Flash icon near the top and the speedster's image on the other side of the can, while Barry handed him the can of grape soda.

"Heh, You got endorsement deals…nice." Wally said cracking open the can.

"That's what happens when you're a superhero as soon as they learn you're a good guy they start approaching you with all kinds of things. I don't actually drink them though, don't need to." Flash said behind his desk. Wally chuckled softly.

"You know I don't know how my Uncle Barry would react to that. We don't exactly have that where I'm from." Wally smiled while the Flash's faded away.

"An energy boost for the Fastest Man Alive." the teen speedster mused. His mood and tone soon changed as he asked the inevitable question.

"So…whatever happened to Aunt Iris? And how do you know me?" Kid Flash asked. Barry sighed as he looked back at him.

"Iris and I once…dated. It was a few years ago, I was still early in my career as the Flash and she was a reporter for the Daily News that I met a few times in between. It wasn't long afterwards I started meeting her as Barry Allen when I worked for the crime lab and…we fell for each other…really fast. For a while I was worried she was more attracted to my Flash persona than to plain old Barry Allen so one night I revealed my identity to her. We were set to get married in a few months and that's when _he_ came into the picture." He said with disgust as the images replied in his mind.

"Professor Zoom appeared from the future claiming he was to be my greatest enemy. He said the reason he came to the present was because I incarcerated some distant ancestor of his that ruined the ancestor's life leading to a family feud by his era. I never really believed that. Not long afterwards he ran into Iris and was smitten with her, he began stalking her both in and out of costume and tried to convince her to love him or else. Iris was repulsed by him and knew he was insane, which only furthered his obsession with her. Then at a Halloween party that same year, while I was away he gave her one final chance to change her mind or else. Iris instead stood her ground and told him that she'd rather drop dead than love him. Professor Zoom granted her wish." He said.

The painful memories rolled in his mind as he recounted the image of Professor Zoom looking at her disgusted and vibrated his hand at hypersonic frequency phasing it through Iris' masked forehead at the costume party severing the neural connections in her mind as Iris stood there with a look of shock softly killing her. He watched the life drain out of her as Iris collapsed to the floor on her back with her legs drawn sideways, her left arm splayed next to her forehead with her right hand folded across her stomach still clad in her Batgirl costume as horrified partygoers looked on.

"When I got back to Central City and heard of her demise…I knew that it was time to end it. Hunting down Zoom running the entire night to find him, when I finally caught up to him…I had never been so angry in all my life. He killed her Wally…and I was going to make sure he paid for what he did. We raced across Central City with him taunting me all the way about how Iris was now gone. Angered I put on a final burst of speed and beat him senseless on the outskirts of town." he said as the memories of that night continued.

Flash tackled him from behind pinning Zoom down and pummeled his face repeatedly at warp speed. The speedster groaned flashing his teeth as Zoom's face jerked back and forth from the barrage of hits being delivered by an enraged Barry. Flash joined his hands together above his head smashing his fists against the crown of Eobard's helmet and a large crack split down the middle. Overcome by grief he grabbed Zoom's throat and held his remaining fist threateningly overhead. Still seething in anger Flash opened his fist vibrating it at supersonic frequency and drove it through Zoom's chest plate causing him immense pain as the evil speedster cried out. Barry grit his teeth as he wrapped his fingers around the villain's heart squeezing certain he felt as much pain as humanly possible. But something came over Barry as a look of frozen horror was now evident on his masked features and threw Zoom over his shoulder to prevent himself from killing the villainous speedster. Zoom landed on his back a short distance away as the Scarlet Speedster was on his knees in contemplation. Professor Zoom breathed heavily grabbing his chest with blood trickling from the corner of his lip and coughed as he struggled to get up.

But the Flash didn't move an inch from his spot as though he was in a trance. Zoom knew he was lucky to be alive and beat a hasty retreat before Flash changed his mind. He remained there on his knees for the next three hours, until a young Wally West jumped out of his jeep and came upon the speedster with a look of absolute terror on his face. He touched Barry's shoulder breaking the trance as he looked back at him, and the two embraced in mutual grief. That night at Central City Hospital they said their goodbyes to Iris with the family and friends close by. And whose death would turn one of the men to bitterness.

"Professor Zoom laid low for all of three days before coming out in the open. He had the entire police force baring down on him including myself. Apparently Zoom found great pleasure in murdering Iris and set out to complete more, and set out to murder my close friend Fiona Webb at her wedding before moving onto the rest of my family members. We set out on a race across the world with him trying to pick off relatives along the way including my mother. When Zoom injured her I was forced to stop which was exactly what he wanted so he could kill Fiona even sooner. And was soon back on track my mom's urging. And gave it my all to stop him at all costs. We had finally made it back to the wedding party and Zoom was closing in on Fiona and started vibrating his hand. He was going to kill her the same way he had Iris but I wouldn't let him. At the last moment I put him in a headlock and stopped. It took everything I had to keep him from reaching Fiona but at the last possible second I managed to stop him. I heard a snap and he fell over. It took a few seconds for everything to catch up to me when I realized what I had done. I'd broken his neck, I thought for sure I had accidentally killed him but to my surprise he was alive. Naturally Zoom was horrified at what I had done to him and was taken away. For the next seven months he was paralyzed from the neck down, driving him insane and swore revenge. I felt terrible and despite protests he was given physical therapy after being bedridden for three months. To a speedster being unable to move is the worst punishment imaginable, which is why I broke his leg ending today's confrontation." Flash told Wally.

The junior speedster sat doubled over on the cot looking down at the floor with his hands clasped together over his knees.

"That's horrible." He said in a low voice.

"Yeah…she meant a lot to you on this world. I'm sorry I couldn't save her." Barry said solemnly. Wally shook his head slightly as he looked back at him.

"Don't blame yourself, you would do anything to save her. Just like the Barry on my Earth would. There's no sense trying to change the past. So then what became of me on this world, I mean if I'm not Kid Flash…" Wally countered. A playful smirk appeared on the Flash's features as he looked back at the boy.

"You turn into something great. Why don't I show you?" he asked getting up from behind his desk.

The pair teleported to Central City shortly thereafter and then raced across the bridge to nearby Keystone City for Wally to meet his counterpart. Elsewhere at NOWHERE's secret holding facility for metahumans, the organization's director was greeted by a visit from one of their benefactors the enigmatic Ra's al Ghul who had a special interest in one of the facility's charges as he and Dr. Zaniel Templar walked along one of the many catwalks that lined this area of the facility as the two men walked side by side.

"Thank you again for coming on such short notice sir." Dr. Templar said keeping a courteous distance from the man in question.

"How did he fare?" Ra's asked never looking back at Templar.

"Both the subject and the target preformed exceeding well tonight Mr. al Ghul just as you'd expect from either of them." Zaniel told him.

"Unfortunately the Superboy did rough him up a bit. However he was stubborn and would not go down easy." He added remaining a few steps behind him.

"And I expect nothing less from him, after all he is The Detective's son…and my heir." Al Ghul said as they continued walking.

"Where is it you are keeping him?" the man added.

"Just beyond this door sir, it wont be much longer." Zaniel told him as they walked past a large cylindrical door.

Inside the room was pitch black aside from the faint glow of the immersion tube that stood in the back of the room. And was littered with a slew of long metallic green cables that were as thick as either of their waists that clung to the walls and lay across the floor connecting to the immersion tube's various functions. Coming into the light of the tank the aristocratic villain gazed within the pod that contained the young Damian Wayne, the grandson of Ra's al Ghul, and the third and current Robin of this world. **Earth-0**. Ra's put an affectionate hand against the tube as he gazed upon his grandson suspended by the mysterious goo unconscious and still clad in his Robin uniform.

"Have you disabled the tracking device within his Utility Belt?" Ra's asked.

"Yes sir." Zaniel answered and nodded. The villain narrowed his eyes as he turned back.

"And the secondary one behind his emblem?" he added cynically catching Zaniel by surprise.

"We…did a through check of his suit sir and made sure every form of communication we found on him was disabled." He replied. The answer didn't sit well with Ra's.

"Then this place has already been compromised. Begin the procedure, I will leave with the boy when it is completed." He ordered as Zaniel rushed to the computer council behind him.

"Right away sir." He said and started the sublimination program on Damian.

Back in Gotham, Nightwing and Red Robin finished doing a visual and long range technological sweep of the city and found no sign of the youngest member of the Bat clan. Tim landed beside Nightwing on a rooftop wearing a scarlet jumpsuit with twin gold belts crossed over his chest with a center clasp and a red and black stylized bird's head symbol, with black leggings, red stripped boots, black gloves, with similar disk icons on his shoulders, with long scarlet and ebony sleeves, a feathered cape with crimson parsecs, and a black domino mask with short black hair. While Nightwing wore a standard black unitard with a large red bird symbol on his chest, black domino mask, with Kevlar padding along his midsection, utility belt and a small pair of nightsticks strapped to his left thigh as they reconvened.

"He's nowhere in the city, we've scanned it at least four times now." Tim told him. Nightwing touched his chin and took a few steps away from him as he pondered.

"What do you think happened to him?" Red Robin asked.

"I don't know." Dick said.

"I guess we start interrogating the bad guys then, see what they know." Red Robin suggested. His older brother sighed exasperated at what they had before them.

"You all right?" Tim asked raising an eyebrow behind his mask. Dick tried to smile but couldn't as he faced him.

"I just get the feeling that it might be a waste of time. Are you sure you couldn't locate his signal?" he asked. Tim went to his computer gauntlet and pulled up a holographic screen.

"There's no trace of his Utility Belt signal." Red Robin said.

"Try the backdoor scanner, there's another tracer behind his symbol." Nightwing told him surprising Tim.

"How did you…" Red Robin said looking back at him.

"I added it to his suit before he became Robin as added insurance. All our suits have one including Batgirl's." Nightwing answered surprising him even further.

"And you were going to tell us this _when_ exactly?" Red Robin asked.

"It was on a need to know basis, and you need to know. And it's not exactly a secret since Bruce and Alfred already know and approve." Dick said. Tim shook his head and continued scanning for Robin's signal.

"So when did you have these installed?" he asked.

"About the same time you and Damian graduated to your mantles. He did it as a precaution so he wouldn't have to spend the whole night looking for us if something happened." Dick told him.

"Well Batman was always ten steps ahead of everyone else." Tim muttered as he continued typing on his computer gauntlet. Zooming out of Gotham he conducted a global search and tracked Robin's location moments later.

Back at the secret base however Dr. Templar continued to plant subliminal images and messages within Damian's mind brainwashing him, turning him away from his father Batman and to his grandfather Ra's and the League of Shadows. The boy though unconscious started to react physically as he was fed images of the Batman being abusive to him and even suffering and turned even darker and became all too realistic for the boy break him mind and spirit.

And was fed false memories of a mission gone horribly wrong where he was shot in the chest by the Joker with a high-powered rifle. He could feel the bullet slam into his insulated vest rending the outer red shell to shreds, and was then beaten and tortured savagely with a crossbar inside a factory that was rigged to explode. The factory went up in a flash as Batman arrived on the scene too late and was fed fleeting images of him dying only to find himself rising out of a Lazarus Pit with his grandfather and mother Talia looking on. And was filled with intense hatred towards his father, joining Ra's crusade to avenge himself on his father and his last implanted memory his killing of the Joker. Damian writhed in agony within the immersion pod gasping out in vain through the fluid he was submerged in. The pod drained as his grandfather looked on and Damian emerged under his spell.

Back in Keystone City that evening Wally awaited to be introduced to his counterpart. It was getting close to sunset as they stood on a back lot in costume. A single headlight peered off in the distance with Wally having to squint his eyes in order to make out the object heading towards them and heard the low rumbling of a motorcycle engine. As it got dark a pair of blue strobing police lights flashed on either side of the bike, oddly enough to him the placement of the lights seemed to be above the bike's frame and thought there was a police car following close behind. He glanced up at his mentor confused as Barry chuckled and the rider finally came into view rolling his bike sideways and parked it.

The rider wore what appeared to be a black leather bodysuit with blue lightning bolt shaped highlights covering his chest and shoulders in a downward streaking fashion with a diagonal black lightning bolt affixed as his symbol, with a black motorcycle helmet, crystal blue visor with light up red and blue lightning bolts adorning the sides of his visor, finally had two large police light bars on the shoulders of his costume as he stepped off his bike.

While the bike itself was a streamlined blue and black motorcycle with a futuristic design and wide ring shaped tires that had a glowing orange inner core, and a similarly glowing engine. Wally was enamored with the bike before focusing his attention back to the masked man standing before him.

"Is this the kid?" the man asked.

"Yep this is the one I told you about. Kid Flash I want you to meet Wally West also known as…" Barry trailed as the masked man removed his helmet showing an older version of himself by about five or so years and introduced himself.

"Hot Pursuit. Pleasure to meet you Wally." He said shaking his younger self's hand.

"Uh huh…" the younger Wally said dumbstruck.

_Author's Note: All right so what'd you think of that? In the last chapter I dropped since hints of the animosity between Flash and Professor Zoom so I guess its time I explain a few things. Basically this is something I've been planning for a while regarding the Flash mythos. In the comics Professor Zoom is a time traveling villain from 25th Century. His reasons for antagonizing the Flash changes. At one point in the comics he had an obsessive crush on Iris West-Allen and tried to threaten her to leave her husband for him. Then in issue 275 of the Flash comic book Zoom killed her after she refused him for the last time. The above is an adaptation of that scene. As well as Barry racing to stop him from killing Fionna who had become the Flash's new fiance after Iris died. Barry stopped him accidently breaking his neck and killing him in issue 325. And is largely an adaptation of Flash's history which happened in 1979 and 1983 respectively. The mysterious ancestor Flash mentions is a reference to Cobalt Blue another Flash villain that has ties to both him and Professor Zoom's family which turns into a family feud by Zoom's home era. Hot Pursuit is another plot point I wanted to do involving Wally. Since he doesn't actually exist in the New 52 (which is stupid), and is actually another version of Barry Allen in the comics. So yeah kill two birds with one stone. Let me know what you think of it guys. _

_Please review generously, _

_Green Gallant. _


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